A simplex word usually contains one to five syllables in Livonian,
cf. si 'guilt', pavalikizo 'sun, IllSg'.1 2 The word
stem may be followed by an inflectional formative that may consist of a
number of syllables. With the exception of a few monosyllabic words that
may be unstressed in the sentence, a word has at least one stressed
syllable. The primary stress in Livonian is on the first syllable of a
word. This is valid also for foreign words. Only short-syllable verb
prefixes borrowed from Latvian can be unstressed, e.g. no|vo-tto
'remove, Inf'. Long-syllable prefixes have a similar stress to
that of the stem, e.g. a x t|a x ndo 'give back, Inf'.

Feet in Livonian consist of one to three syllables, with disyllabic
feet being the most typical. Like in Estonian, a trisyllabic simple word
can form a foot in Livonian, where the stressed syllable is followed by
two unstressed syllables (ka-ladon 'fish, DPl'). If a prosodic
word has four or more syllables, the secondary stress is usually on the
third syllable of a word (pie-dago:don 'pine, DPI'). If a word
has five syllables or a larger odd number of syllables, the
secondary-stressed foot is usually trisyllabic (o-patvjizon
'teacher, DSg'). However, in the derivational affix -nika the
secondary stress can be on the second syllable of a word in all cases,
e.g. bu x odni:ka 'shopkeeper', m[??] x ni:kko 'peasant,
PSg', mo x izni:kidi 'squire, PPl'. Also, non-initial
syllables with a long vowel in late loanwords can have a secondary
stress, e.g. ka x ptem 'captain', be-nzim 'petrol'.
In compounds, each component preserves its stress pattern.

Although the relation between word quantity and secondary stress
has not been discussed very extensively in the previous prosodic
descriptions of Livonian, the main aspects are presented in Viitso 1981;
2007; 2008, and Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk,
Viitso 2008. Acousticphonetic studies have shown that like in Estonian,
there is a tendency to balance syllable durations to achieve foot
isochrony in Livonian (Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu,
Tuisk, Viitso 2008; Tuisk, Teras 2009; Tuisk 2012). However, in
Livonian, the syllable durations in secondary-stressed feet appear to be
shorter than in primary-stressed feet (Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits,
Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 64-67). Namely, secondary-stressed
feet in tetrasyllabic words with a short open first syllable and a
half-long second syllable vowel (e.g. salandobod 'they steal',
purin-tobod they sail') have a shorter duration than
primary-stressed feet with the same structure (V4 = 85 ms and V3 = 70
ms, in primary-stressed feet V1 = 103 ms and V2 = 211 ms (2)). The
duration ratio of the vowels is greater in secondary stressed feet (0.8)
and smaller in primary-stressed feet (0.5).

Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso (2008)
have shown that secondary-stressed feet containing a geminate consonant
also have shorter durations than primary-stressed feet of the same
structure. In the secondary-stressed foot of tetrasyllabic words where
there is a short geminate and a half-long second syllable vowel, the
duration ratio of syllables is 0.8 (e.g. pavalikiz(t) 'sun, GSg
(PSg)', purronika 'sailboat'). The ratio is the same in
primary-stressed feet with the same structure. Vowel and geminate
durations are similar in the feet occurring in both positions. In the
secondary-stressed feet with a long geminate and a short second syllable
vowel (e.g. pavalikki 'sun', purronikko 'sailboat,
PSg'), the duration ratio of the syllables varies from 1.9 to 5.2,
depending on the speaker (2.6 on average). The ratios vary because of
the shortening of the duration of the second syllable vowel.

2. Research background and aims

The main aim of the current study is to describe and analyze
non-initial syllables and secondary-stressed feet in Livonian
polysyllabic words with various structures. The analysis focuses on the
comparison of the syllable rhyme durations and duration ratios in
trisyllabic, tetrasyllabic and pentasyllabic words. In the comparison of
the primary-stressed feet and secondary-stressed feet, previous
acoustic-phonetic studies on Livonian will be considered. The material
will also be compared to similar studies on Estonian, as the temporal
structure of Estonian and Livonian is comparable in many ways.

The relation between word quantity and secondary stress in Estonian
has been discussed thoroughly in earlier prosodic descriptions (e.g.
Lehiste 1965). One of the research problems concerns the question of how
the quantity of the primary-stressed foot influences the position of the
secondary stress. Another question is whether the quantity oppositions
are similar in primary-stressed and secondary-stressed feet. Attention
has been given to the impact of the durational relations of the
non-initial syllables on the structure of the primary-stressed foot,
and, thus, the complex nature of the word as a prosodic whole (see for
example Ariste 1963). However, the quantity degrees in
secondary-stressed feet were not determined outside gradational affixes.
Secondary-stressed feet were claimed to have a more simple structure
than primary-stressed feet. This tradition was first broken by Ilse
Lehiste (1965), who proposed that stresses and quantities are
independent of each other in Estonian and that one can distinguish
between all three quantity degrees in a syllable following a Q3
syllable. (3) According to her study, an Estonian tetrasyllabic word is
divided into two disyllabic units that are similar to a disyllabic word
(Lehiste 1968:301). Thus, one can conclude that in Estonian, the
structures of primary-stressed and secondary-stressed feet are in
principle similar.

A study on the temporal structure of Estonian secondary-stressed
feet by Pajusalu, Help, Lippus, Niit, Teras, Viitso (2005) has shown
that multi-foot words in Estonian cannot be interpreted as identically
structured sequences of feet and that the words are characterized by
specific durational patterns. A comparison of the western and eastern
peripheries of Estonia revealed that in Saaremaa (western periphery) the
unstressed vowel in a secondary-stressed foot has generally lengthened,
and the duration ratios in the secondary-stressed foot are similar to
those of the primary-stressed foot. The analysis (Pajusalu, Help,
Lippus, Niit, Teras, Viitso 2005) showed that the lengthening of the
vowel in an unstressed syllable is not a permanent feature, being absent
from the secondary-stressed feet in Q1 words in the southern Estonian
pronunciation of Vorumaa (eastern periphery). Exceptionally, an
extensive lengthening was observed in the first secondary-stressed foot
in hexasyllabic words in both regions. The study also pointed to the
fact that regardless of the position of the secondary stress, in both
peripheries of Estonia, five-syllable and six-syllable words are
characterized by a similar basic pattern of the temporal structure of
the word. The third syllable tended to be the shortest and the following
fourth syllable much longer independent of stress. A similar pattern
between northern and central Estonian pronunciation on the one hand and
the southern Estonian pronunciation on the other was observed by Arvi
Sepp (1980).

Investigation of the structure of Estonian trisyllabic words
revealed that three contrastive consonant quantities occurring in
disyllabic words do not occur between the second and third syllable in
trisyllabic words (Lehiste 1997). Only two contrasts in this position
occur: short and long. Short consonants in this position have the same
duration as do short consonants between the first and second syllable.
Long consonants between the second and third syllable are called
ambiguously long as they cannot be immediately identified with either a
contrastively long or overlong consonant. Note that the test words used
for the study did not contain derivative suffixes.

Considering previous studies on Livonian and Estonian, it is
hypothesized here that the structures of the primary-stressed feet and
secondarystressed feet are similar in Livonian, but there is a more
noticeable tendency towards the shortening of secondary-stressed feet
than in Estonian. An acoustic-phonetic study on Livonian (Lehiste,
Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008) has already
shown a similar tendency in tetrasyllabic words. The same pattern is
expected to appear in Livonian trisyllabic secondary-stressed feet in
pentasyllabic words. It is also assumed that the lengthening of
unstressed syllables is not a regular pattern in Livonian, and is valid
only in certain word structures. In the current paper, durations of
short and long voiceless geminates in trisyllabic as well as tetraand
pentasyllabic words are analyzed. It is assumed that, like in the
primary-stressed feet, there are two contrastive consonant quantity
patterns in noninitial syllables, but geminate durations are shorter in
non-initial syllables. Derivational affixes will be treated separately;
in addition to the affix -nika (-nikko), the affix--likiz/-likiz
(-likki/-likki) is analyzed.

Livonian differentiates two tones in stressed stem-initial
syllables--the plain tone and the broken tone or stud. Studies on
Livonian tones have shown that the duration of the stressed syllables in
words with stod is usually smaller than the syllable duration in words
with the plain tone (e.g. Teras, Tuisk 2009). In the current study this
pattern is not analyzed, but the question of a similar tendency in words
longer than two syllables is definitely intriguing. This would require a
larger amount of data, including words with and without stod with the
same structure. Thus only some observations about the pronunciation of
words with stod will be made.

3. Material and method

The acoustic data for the current study come from the University of
Tartu Archives of Estonian Dialects and Kindred Languages. The
methodology and structure of the investigation is similar to that used
for the previous analyses of Livonian prosody (Lehiste, Teras,
Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008; Tuisk, Teras 2009;
Tuisk 2012).

The analyzed words are from eight Livonian speakers who were
recorded in the years 1976, 1997, 2000-2010. Of these eight, four were
older speakers, born between 1889 and 1921. They spoke Livonian as their
mother tongue. Two were middle-aged speakers, born in 1950 and 1957.
They had heard Livonian from their parents and grandparents, but began
to speak the language only as adults. The two younger speakers were born
in the 1970s. One of them acquired Livonian as a teenager and another
during childhood. The older and middle-aged speakers were born in the
villages that belong to the eastern, central and western part of the
Livonian Coast. The younger speakers were born in Riga.

The test words were grouped according to the number and structure
of syllables as well as the position in the sentence or phrase. Most of
the material consisted of words from the test sentences where the test
words appear in phrase-final and sentence-final position. Due to the
different reading list of the test-sentences there are some words that
were read only by one speaker. These single words are not included in
averaging (e.g. in Table 9). Also, words from word triplets were
analyzed. Namely, two older speakers repeated the test word three times.
The last word of a triplet is selected for the study and analyzed
together with the words in sentence-final position. On one occasion the
first and the second word of a triplet is analyzed as well, the
particular reason for that is provided in subchapter 4.3. In addition,
one word structure in phrase-medial position from spontaneous speech
from one speaker will be examined. Examples of the word structures with
three syllables are ka x zabod 'they grow', ti x kadon
'goats, DPl', ka x 'ddobod (4) 'they
disappear', with four syllables pu x rroni:ka 'sailboat'
and pu-rroni:kko 'sailboat, PSg', with five syllables pa x
vali:kizo 'sun, IllSg', va-lani:kadon 'cottagers,
DPl'. Note that there is a difference between half-long vowels and
short vowels in an unstressed position. Half-long vowels (5) are longer
than the stressed short vowels. Almost all consonants in Livonian can be
geminates, and are thus divided between two syllables. (6) Both the
short geminate and long geminate close the preceding syllable.

A total of 297 words were analyzed. The test words and phoneme
boundaries were manually tagged using the speech analysis software Praat
(Boersma, Weenink 2014-2015), after which segment durations were
extracted from the annotated TextGrid using a script. The method used to
calculate the durations of the syllables and syllable ratios is the same
used in previous studies (e.g. Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus,
Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008). Syllable duration equals the duration of
the syllable rhyme, which consists of the obligatory nucleus followed by
an optional coda. The duration of a closed syllable rhyme was calculated
by measuring the duration of the vowel and the part of the geminate
consonant or consonant cluster preceding the syllable boundary. The
syllable boundary in the geminate was calculated by measuring the
duration of the geminate and subtracting the part that constitutes the
initial consonant of the following syllable (Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits,
Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 42). This was established by
measuring the duration of single word-initial and syllable-initial
consonants. A word-initial consonant is longer than a syllableinitial
consonant (e.g. Lehiste 1966); the duration of a syllable-initial
consonant is approximately 70% of a word-initial consonant (the duration
of a voiceless plosive is established in a voiced environment). Duration
ratios presented in Tables are the averages of the duration ratios (i.e.
not the ratios of average durations).

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Trisyllabic words

In trisyllabic words, the primary stress falls on the first
syllable of a word. As already mentioned, there are exceptional words
with the affix -nika where the secondary stress falls on the second
syllable, e.g. mo-izni:ka 'squire', mo x izni:kko
'squire, PSg'. These words will be treated separately.
Altogether twelve word structures occurring in trisyllabic words are
discussed.

First, words with a short first syllable followed by a half-long
second syllable and a short third syllable (words like kazabod, N = 21)
from spontaneous speech from one female speaker are briefly discussed.
The vowel durations in the syllables are V1 = 70 ms, V2 = 137 ms, V3 =
64 ms, yielding V1/V2 = 0.52. The data from the same speaker obtained
from the study on disyllabic words from spontaneous speech with the same
syllable structure had the durations of V1 = 81 ms and V2 = 145,
yielding V1/V2 = 0.56 (Tuisk 2012: 6). The results of the disyllabic
words from read speech reveal the same tendency (V1/V2 = 0.5; Lehiste,
Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 118). Thus it
can be concluded that although the S1 and S2 rhyme durations in
trisyllabic words are decreased, the syllable ratios remain stable.

Segment durations of the words tikadon 'goats, DPl'
(kikidi 'roosters, PPl' also belongs to this word type) and
vikatoks 'with an axe' are presented in Table 1. These words
have a short geminate after the first syllable vowel, a half-long second
syllable vowel and a short third syllable vowel. The word vikatoks also
has a short geminate after the second syllable vowel.

The mean duration of the short geminate between V1 and V2 in the
words tikadon and vikatoks is nearly the same (126 and 127 ms), being
similar to the short geminate duration in disyllabic words with the same
structure (in disyllabic words like tapab 'he/she kills' the
short geminate duration was 131 ms; Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus,
Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 134). The V2 duration is also similar to
that in disyllabic words with the same structure (V2 = 207 ms). In the
word vikatoks the V2 duration is somewhat shorter, which may be due to
the part of the short geminate following the vowel. The mean V3
durations in the word types represented by tikadon and vikatoks are 73
ms and 71 ms respectively. Thus, it seems that when the syllable ends
with a voiceless consonant cluster, the vowel duration does not shorten
significantly. The duration ratios of S1 and S2 rhymes are a little
smaller in the trisyllabic words tikadon and vikatoks (S1/S2 = 0.59 and
0.50) than in disyllabic words such as tapab 'he/she kills'
(S1/S2 = 0.8) from Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk,
Viitso 2008: 134. This can be explained by the shorter S1 rhyme duration
in trisyllabic words.

The derivational affix -nika in the word moiznika behaves somewhat
differently (Table 2). The duration of the half-long S3 vowel in the
affix is considerably shorter than the half-long S2 vowel in the words
tikadon and vikatoks. The mean duration of the half-long vowel in
tikadon and vikatoks is 206 and 192 ms respectively, but in the word
moiznika, the durations are 130 ms (in phrase-final position) and 147 ms
(in sentence-final position).

The short geminate duration in the word moiznika is 112 ms in
phrase-final position and 117 ms in sentence-final position, which is
shorter than the short geminate duration in the words tikadon and
vikatoks (126 and 127 ms).

Figure 1 illustrates the syllable rhyme durations of all three word
types.

There is no significant lengthening of the syllable durations in
sentence-final words. The exceptions are the words with the affix -nika,
where Stand S3 rhymes in the word moiznika are lengthened in the
sentence-final position but the S2 rhyme duration does not change. The
difference may be explained by the fact that in the word moiznika the
affix constitutes a secondary-stressed foot.

Next, words with a long first syllable followed by two unstressed
syllable vowels are analyzed. Table 3 represents average segment
durations of the words vorodon 'strangers, DPl' (the test word
ulidi 'lips, PPl' belongs to this type as well), motlobod
'they think' and vo'dlogod 'wait, JusPl'. These
words have a short vowel in the second and third syllable.

There is one characteristic pattern that becomes evident in these
three word types. Namely, the duration of V2 is always less than that of
V3 (by one-way ANOVA the difference between V2 and V3 is significant
[F(1,90) = 10.72, p < 0.05]). The mean S2 vowel duration (V2) is
between 64 and 80 ms and the mean S3 vowel duration (V3) is between 79
and 98 ms.

Table 4 represents the average segment durations of the words with
a long first syllable containing a geminate. There is a long voiced
geminate in the words li'ggogod 'soak, JusPl' (test words
such aspu'ddobod 'they fall', ka'ddobod 'they
disappear' and li'ggobod 'they soak' are in this
type as well) and a short voiceless geminate in the words outidi
'cars, PPl' and ko'togid 'lose, Imp2Pl'
(ko'togod 'lose, JusPl' also belongs here). There are
short vowels in the second and third syllable in these word types.

Here too, V2 is always shorter in duration than V3 (the difference
between V2 and V3 is significant [F(1,102) = 35.41, p < 0.001]). The
mean S2 vowel duration (V2) in word structures presented in Table 4 is
between 69 and 81 ms, while the mean S3 vowel duration (V3) is between
93 and 113 ms.

The mean duration of a long voiced geminate in words like
li'ggogod is 205 ms, being shorter in duration than the geminate in
disyllabic words like ma'ggol (CC = 226 ms; Lehiste, Teras,
Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 139). The mean
duration of the short geminate in the word outidi is 150 ms. Duration of
the short geminate in disyllabic words with the same S1 and S2 structure
was 155 ms (Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso
2008: 127). In the word kg'togid the average short geminate
duration is 158 ms. The duration of the short geminate in disyllabic
words with the same S1 and S2 structure was 177 ms (Lehiste, Teras,
Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 124). Thus in general,
geminate durations are decreased in these trisyllabic words as compared
to disyllabic words.

A comparison of duration ratios of the first and second syllable
rhymes in trisyllabic words (presented in Tables 3 and 4) with
disyllabic words with the same structure clearly shows that the syllable
ratios are bigger in a trisyllabic foot. The S1/S2 rhyme duration ratio
is the smallest in the words like li'ggogod (3.00 in phrase-final
position and 3.07 in sentence-final position) and the biggest in outidi
and motlobod (averages vary between 4.20-4.77). In trisyllabic words,
the duration of S1 is longer in most cases and the duration of S2 is
always shorter than in disyllabic words. In disyllabic words in read
speech, the average S1/S2 in words like ma'ggol 'mountain,
AllSg', outo 'car' and katlo 'cauldron, PSg'
was between 2.5 and 3.3 (Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu,
Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 127, 136, 139). This result confirms the role of
foot isochrony in Livonian. The first primary-stressed syllable in
trisyllabic words needs to be more stressed in order for the foot to
achieve isochrony. Figure 2 illustrates the mean syllable rhyme
durations in words with a long stressed first syllable followed by two
unstressed syllables.

The syllable durations in all six word types (presented in Tables 3
and 4, and Figure 2) discussed are relatively similar in phrase-final
and sentence-final positions. There is no significant lengthening of the
syllables in sentence-final words. The mean S1 rhyme duration is the
longest in the word outidi (341 ms in phrase-final position and 338 ms
in sentence-final position) and the shortest in li'ggogod (209 ms
and 218 ms respectively).

Next, the segment durations in words with a long first syllable, a
long voiceless geminate and a short third syllable vowel are presented
in Table 5, i.e. pu'nlikki 'reddish' and moiznikko
'squire, PSg'. Although both words contain a derivational
affix, only moiznikko has a secondary stress on the second syllable.

The average duration of the long geminate in the word
pu'nlikki is 193 ms, shorter than the long geminate in disyllabic
words with the same structure (in words like akkon 'to catch,
Pt' CC = 267 ms; Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu,
Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 135). In the word moiznikko the long geminate is
shorter (174 and 162 ms) than in pu'nlikki. The S3 vowel durations
in the word types of pu'nlikki and moiznikko are similar to those
in disyllabic words with the similar structure (S3 = 100 ms; Lehiste,
Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 135).

The mean S2/S3 differs in the two words. In punlikki the syllable
rhyme ratio is 2.05 in phrase-final position and 2.22 in sentence-final
position. In moiznikko the ratios are 1.77 and 1.59 respectively. This
difference may be explained by the shorter S2 rhyme in the word
moiznikko.

Looking at the words (see Table 4) with stod (kg'togid) and
without stod (outidi), the duration of the stressed syllables in words
with stod is shorter (218 ms) than the syllable duration in words
without stod (265 ms). It is striking and also expected that the
characteristic laryngealization only appears in the pronunciation of
older speakers. However, the duration of the first stressed syllable in
the word kg'togid 'lose, Imp2PT is always greater in the
pronunciation of older speakers. This result is not in line with the
fact that the syllables carrying stod are shorter in duration and needs
further investigation.

4.2. Secondary-stressed feet in tetrasyllabic words

The syllable structure of the secondary-stressed feet served as a
criterion for dividing tetrasyllabic words into three groups. In the
following, the results from the analysis of secondary-stressed feet will
be presented. Secondary-stressed feet have the following structures in
the test words: (1) CV.CVC(C) (e.g. salandobod 'they steal'),
(2) CVC.C C(C) (e.g. purronika 'sailboat'), and (3) CVC.CV(C)
(e.g. purronikko 'sailboat, PSg'). In tetrasyllabic words,
there is a secondary stress on the third syllable. Again, an exceptional
word here is moiznikadon 'squires, DPl', where there is a
secondary stress on the second syllable of the word. A total of fifteen
word structures will be discussed here.

First, the segment durations of the words with a short third
syllable vowel and a half-long fourth syllable vowel such as salandobod
'they steal', purintobod 'they sail' and vagrimizoks
'with rolling, InlSg' are given in Table 6. Secondary-stressed
feet had the structure CV.CVC(C) in the test words. (7)

The results of the current study are in line with previous findings
(Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008). The
second syllable vowel in the secondary-stressed foot in the word types
of salandobod and purintobod is always longer than the first syllable
vowel. Compared to the primary-stressed CV.CV words (Lehiste, Teras,
Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 41), the vowels are
significantly shorter (in a primary-stressed foot as in the word kadub
'disappears', V1 = 103 ms and V2 = 211 ms).

The duration ratio of the vowels is greater in the
secondary-stressed foot (0.79-0.86) and smaller in the primary-stressed
foot (V1/V2 = 0.5; Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk,
Viitso 2008: 41). Similar lengthening of the unstressed syllable in the
secondary-stressed foot has also been observed in the pronunciation of
the Saaremaa dialect of Estonian (Pajusalu, Help, Lippus, Niit, Teras,
Viitso 2005: 102). However, in Saaremaa the lengthening is greater in
the secondary-stressed foot as compared to the primary-stressed foot,
whereas in Livonian the lengthening is significantly bigger in the
primary-stressed foot.

From the three word types presented in Table 6, the
secondary-stressed foot of the word vagrimizoks behaves somewhat
differently. The situation is just the opposite of that seen in the
words salandobod and purintobod: V3 in the secondary-stressed foot is
longer in duration and V4 is shorter (in phrase-final position 85 and 68
ms, in sentence-final position 105 and 83 ms), with S3/S4 of 1.25 and
1.27. The difference may be explained by the consonant cluster following
the last vowel or the shortening of the unstressed vowel in this
particular syllable structure.

The syllable rhyme durations in the words salandobod, purintobod
and vagrimizoks are presented in Figure 4.

Interestingly, there is a phrase-final lengthening in the word
purintobod, but the situation is just the opposite in the word
va'grimizoks. This test word is significantly lengthened in
sentence-final position, most likely due to the phenomenon of the
lengthening of the final unit of an utterance or a phrase.

Syllable rhyme durations of the words with the affixes -nika and
-likiz(t) (a genitive and partitive case of the affix -likki) are
presented in Table 7, e.g. purronika 'sailboat', irenika
'inhabitant of the Ire village', valanika
'cottager', amatnika 'official' andpavalikiz(t)
'sun, GSg (PSg)'. The secondary-stressed foot has the
structure CVC.C C(C) and contains a short geminate. The word moiznikadon
'squires, DPl' with the affix -nika has a secondary stress on
the second syllable and is therefore treated separately (see Table 8).

The duration of the short geminate in the secondary-stressed foot
is generally 126-148 ms and the duration of half-long V4 is 179-203 ms.
These durations are generally a little longer than the respective
durations in the two first syllables in the trisyllabic words tikadon
and vikatoks (cf. Table 1). The S3/S4 rhyme ratios tend to be bigger in
words with the affix -nika (for tikadon and vikatoks the ratios were
0.50 and 0.59). The average ratio of syllable rhymes in the
primary-stressed disyllabic foot with the same structure is similar:
S1/S2 = 0.7-0.8 (Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk,
Viitso 2008: 57). However, the syllable durations are slightly bigger in
disyllabic feet: the S1 is 162 ms and S2 is 207 ms.

A comparison of the affix -nika in the trisyllabic word moiznika
(cf. Tables 2) and tetrasyllabic moiznikadon shows that the half-long
vowel is lengthened considerably in the tetrasyllabic word. The S3 vowel
duration in the trisyllabic word moiznika was 130 ms in phrase-final
position and 147 ms in sentence-final position and in the tetrasyllabic
word moiznikadon 195 and 176 ms. The duration of the short geminate in
trisyllabic and tetrasyllabic words is similar. The S2/S3 ratios are
0.87 and 0.78 in trisyllabic words, and 0.59 and 0.76 in tetrasyllabic
words.

Figure 5 presents syllable rhyme durations in the words with the
affixes -nika and -likiz(t).

Segment durations and duration ratios in the words with a long
voiceless geminate followed by a short vowel in the secondary-stressed
feet such as pavalikki 'sun' (the word mgmalikki
'ladybird' also belongs to this type), kumalikki
'camomile', pavalikkizt 'sun, NPl', mgmalikkizt
'ladybird, NPl' and purronikko 'sailboat, PSg' are
presented in Table 9. The structure of the secondary-stressed foot here
is CVC.CV(CC).

The duration of the long geminate in a secondary-stressed foot is
the longest in the word purronikko (249 ms), which is approximately
twice as long as the short geminate in the word type of purronika (128
ms). The S4 vowel duration in the secondary-stressed foot is the longest
in the word pavalikki (112 ms), which is almost the same in duration as
in the primary-stressed feet with the same structure (100 ms; Lehiste,
Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu, Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 135). The S4
vowel is the shortest in words ending with a consonant cluster (60, 77
and 81 ms).

Mean syllable rhyme durations in words with a long geminate in the
secondary-stressed foot are shown in Figure 6.

Excluding the words that occurred only once, the average S3/S4
duration ratios remain between 2.30 and 3.10. The average ratio of the
syllable rhymes in the primary-stressed disyllabic foot with the same
structure was S1/S2 = 3.1 (Lehiste, Teras, Ernstreits, Lippus, Pajusalu,
Tuisk, Viitso 2008: 135). Thus, it can be concluded that syllable ratios
in primary-stressed disyllabic feet and secondary-stressed disyllabic
feet are similar.

In secondary-stressed feet where the geminate is long and the
second syllable vowel is short, the S3/S4 rhyme duration ratios vary the
most (1.62-3.10), with an average value of 2.55. The ratios vary because
of the differences between speakers. Some speakers tended to lengthen
long geminates considerably and thereby shorten the S4 vowel. The
average S3 rhyme duration varies between 148 and 250 ms, being the
shortest in the words pavalikkizt (148 ms) and kumaUkki (165 and 180 ms)
and the longest in the words pavalikki and purronikko (208-250 ms).

The S4 vowel duration in all structures of secondary-stressed feet
would suggest the vowel in words salandobod and purintobod to be short
and in words like purronika long (instead of calling them half-long).
The S4 vowel in the words salandobod and purintobod (V4 = 85 and 89 ms,
cf. Table 6) is less than half as long as the S4 vowel in words like
purronika (V4 = 201 ms, cf. Table 7).

4.3. Secondary-stressed feet in pentasyllable words

In pentasyllable words there is a secondary stress on the third
syllable. Altogether five word structures were analyzed. The
secondary-stressed segment durations of the words pavalikizo(n)
'sun, IllSg (DSg)', purronikadoks 'sailboat, InlPl',
valanikadon 'cottagers, DPl', kumalikizon 'camomile,
DSg' and keratimizon 'writing, DSg' are presented in
Table 10. The main structure of the secondary-stressed foot here is
CVC.CV.CVC(C).

The V4 duration is the longest in the word pavalikizo(n) (201 ms),
which is longer than the V4 duration in the tetrasyllabic word pavalikiz
(182 ms). The short geminate duration in the secondary-stressed feet is
the longest in the word pavalikizo(n) and shortest in purronikadoks. In
tetrasyllabic words such as pavalikizt and purronika the same tendency
appeared. The duration of the short geminate in trisyllabic words (like
tikadon and vikatoks) was similar to that in pentasyllabic words. The
duration of the last syllable vowel is the shortest in the word
purronikadoks (V5 = 60 ms), which is probably due to the following
voiceless consonant cluster. In other word types the average V5 duration
remained between 81 and 132 ms.

The analysis of the secondary-stressed foot reveals that the words
keratimizon and kumalikizon behave a little differently from other
pentasyllabic words presented in Table 10. The average V4 duration in
the secondary-stressed foot is usually between 160 and 205 ms, which is
similar to that in the tetrasyllabic word type purronika (V4 = 187 ms).
The S3/S4 ratio in the secondary-stressed foot is 0.54-0.88. However,
the measurements of the word kumalikizon (in sentence-final position)
show that there is no lengthening of the S4 vowel in the
secondary-stressed feet in this word. The duration of V4 is only 89 ms
and the S3/S4 ratio is 1.33. This exception may be regarded as a fluke,
reflected in only one test word, but could also be explained by the
background of the speaker whose data contained this word. This female
speaker spoke Estonian to her mother. The test word was the last word of
the triplet. In order to test whether this is a persistent pattern, the
measurements of the first and second word of the triplet were included
as well. The results are the same: V4 durations are 81 ms and 93 ms, the
S3/S4 is 1.69 and 1.23. Thus the difference is valid here as well. Also,
the word keratimizon has somewhat shorter V4 durations--139 ms in
phrase-final position and 97 ms in sentence-final position, having the
S3/S4 0.50 and 0.61.

The syllable rhyme durations in pentasyllabic words are presented
in Figure 7.

In general, the syllable rhyme durations are similar in
phrase-final and sentence-final position. Only the word purronikadoks is
considerably lengthened in sentence-final position.

The comparison of the primary-stressed feet of trisyllabic words
(tikadon and vikatoks, cf. Table 1) and secondary-stressed trisyllabic
feet of five-syllable words with the same structure (pavalikizo(n) and
purronikadoks) reveals shortening of the secondary-stressed foot in the
word purronikadoks, while in pavalikizo(n) the foot is not shortened.
The overall average S3/S4 syllable rhyme ratios in the word
purronikadoks and S1/S2 ratios in the trisyllabic words are 0.50-0.66,
but in the word pavalikizo(n) the S3/S4 ratios are 0.87-0.88. The
difference can be explained by the longer S3 duration in the word
pavalikizo(n). The analysis of the derivational affix -nika shows that
the S3 rhyme in the pentasyllabic words is similar to that found in the
tetrasyllabic words (127-148 ms). This indicates that the two
derivational affixes may behave differently in pentasyllabic words.

Conclusions

The aim of this paper was to study Livonian trisyllabic,
tetrasyllabic and pentasyllabic words with different structures, with a
focus on non-initial syllables and secondary-stressed feet. It was
hypothesized that the duration ratios of the secondary-stressed feet are
similar to those of the primary-stressed feet in Livonian, but there is
a larger tendency to shorten the secondary-stressed feet. The results
show that in tetrasyllabic words in Livonian, the syllable ratios of the
secondary-stressed feet consisting of a long first syllable and short
second syllable (S1/S2 = 2.30-3.10) are similar to those of the
primary-stressed feet (S1/S2 = 3.1). The syllable ratios of the
secondary-stressed feet consisting of a short first syllable and short
or half-long second syllable in tetrasyllabic words are greater (S1/S2 =
0.83) than those of the disyllabic primary-stressed feet (S1/S2 = 0.5).
The unstressed syllable is lengthened significantly more in a
primary-stressed foot than in a secondary-stressed foot, while in
Estonian the situation may also be the opposite. In Livonian
pentasyllabic words the situation may differ depending on the structure
of the secondary-stressed feet. The syllable ratios in trisyllabic
secondary-stressed foot (S1/S2 = 0.60) are similar to the ratios in
primary-stressed foot (S1/S2 = 0.59) if the secondary-stressed foot
contains the derivational affix -nika.

There is one particular pattern that is evident in trisyllabic
words with a long initial syllable followed by a short second and third
syllable vowel. Namely, the vowel duration in S2 is always shorter than
the vowel duration in S3. The assumption that the lengthening of
unstressed syllables is not a regular pattern and is valid only in
certain word structures appears to be true. The results on geminates
show that the short geminate duration is similar in disyllabic and
longer words. However, long geminates are significantly longer in
duration in disyllabic words than in longer words. The duration of the
long geminate in tri- and tetrasyllabic words is approximately 1.5 times
longer than that of a short geminate.

Words with derivational affixes were also treated separately. The
affix -nika functions as an independent word and behaves similarly in
trisyllabic, tetrasyllabic and pentasyllabic words. The syllable ratios
in the affix were the biggest in trisyllabic words, which may be
explained by a shorter half-long vowel duration than that found in
tetra- and pentasyllabic words. In the partitive case (-nikko), the
syllable durations were greater in tetrasyllabic words.

http://dx.doi.org/10.3176/lu.2015.3.02

Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the Estonian Research Council grant
IUT2-37. The author is very grateful to Eva Liina Asu-Garcia, Pire Teras
and Tiit-Rein Viitso for their constructive comments. I would also like
to thank Eva Liina Asu-Garcia and David Ogren for editing the language
of this paper.